NY State Senator Pete Harckham Wants to Move District 40 Forward

With early voting soon to start and Election Day coming up quickly, voters in Northern Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties have a distinct choice at the polls in the race for the 40th New York State Senate district. Incumbent Democratic Senator Pete Harckham has marked his first term in office by passing important legislation and serving his constituents by consistently delivering results. Sen. Harckham secured $10 million in school aid to improve local classrooms, expand Pre-K programs and reduce class sizes. He championed an investment of $500 million for clean water programs, and obtained extra funding for veterans’ support, local law enforcement agencies and first responders. Overall, he has secured more than $27 million in funding in direct support for the District, providing crucial support for infrastructure, Indian Point workers, parks, libraries, and healthcare clinics. Sen. Harckham also fought against the anti-choice Trump administration by passing the Reproductive Health Act, ensuring that women in New York can make their own reproductive health choices. He passed common-sense legislation that extends waiting periods for gun purchases and bans high-risk dangerous individuals from obtaining firearms. He stood up for taxpayers by voting against a sales tax increase and passed a permanent property tax cap that will save taxpayers nearly $200 billion over the next decade. Sen. Harckham also helped to pass the Child Victims Act so victims of abuse can finally have access to justice in the courts. He’s been a state-wide leader in the fight against the opioid epidemic, doubling minimum treatment times, reducing co-pays and expanding access to life-saving treatment. Additionally, he passed the toughest climate protection legislation in the nation to help combat climate change.

His Republican opponent, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, unfortunately has has not articulated positive policies that would improve the lives of families in the District. Instead, he’s running a negative campaign based on fearmongering and the spreading of disinformation. Astorino claims strong management skills but has neglected to disclose that Westchester’s credit rating was reduced twice under his watch and he left taxpayers with an operating deficit of $81 million. In addition, he cost Westchester communities $25 million for failing to adhere to a Federal fair housing settlement, as well as spending millions of taxpayer dollars in court (unsuccessfully) fighting the Department of Housing and Urban Development on affordable housing. These are some of the reasons why voters turned him out of office by a resounding majority in 2017. In addition, Astorino, one of Donald Trump’s key supporters in New York, calls Trump “a good friend of over 15 years,” has worked as a paid campaign aide who promoted Trump’s lies on cable TV. He’s received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Trump and has had to acknowledge he had signed a non-disclosure agreement that bars him from disparaging Trump in any way. Like Trump, he has refused to release his income tax returns, though Sen. Harckham has done so. Astorino continues to make unsubstantiated, discriminatory dog whistles about an unidentified rise in crime in the District, but has avoided mentioning that while county executive he tried twice to eliminate the Department of Emergency Services. In addition, he’s a gun extremist who wants to repeal the aforementioned Red Flag law that prevents dangerous domestic abusers from getting guns. Regarding the environment, Astorino is a climate-change denier who refuses to speak out about any of Trump’s executive orders and actions that adversely impact the environment. While county executive, he disbanded Westchester’s climate-change task force and was fined $1.1 million by the federal government for violating the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The choice voters have in this election is clear. Senator Harckham wants to move us forward, while Mr. Astorino’s regressive values are clearly out of sync with a majority of residents of the 40th District. For information on how to make a plan to vote, visit Vote.org.